Trials and Tribulations
by Running Unraveled
Summary: AU, as in gods are not gods in this fic. After Percy is left motherless, Poseidon must step up to the plate to raise the unruly 11 year old boy with all of the trials and tribulations that come with raising a troublesome boy. Add a lot of family drama and issues and you have got a recipe for disaster.
1. Chapter 1

**Trials and Tribulations Chapter 1**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson**

**Hey so this is my first fanfiction, and it is an AU. So please read and review, and enjoy.**

The ringing of the house phone awoke Poseidon at two in the morning. Grumbling he got out of bed and walked out into the hallway to answer the phone.

"Hello?" Poseidon said wearily as he rubbed a hand over his face.

"Hello is this Poseidon Olympian of Atlantis Stables?"

"Yes, now you better have a good reason for waking me up so early in the morning."

"Yes I am terribly sorry, I am calling you in regards to your son, Percy Jackson."

"My who?" Poseidon said, now fully awake.

"Your son, Percy," the man on the other end of the line sounded unsure, "I'm sorry maybe I should introduce myself I'm Detective Lopez of the New York City Police. We are calling because at 12:05 a.m. this morning we responded to a domestic violence call at the residence of one Gabriel Ugliano. When we arrived he was trying to break down a door with a knife in his hand. His wife, Sally Jackson, was lying bleeding on the floor. She died on the way to the hospital. We found Percy behind the door Mr. Ugliano was trying to break down, he had minor injuries, most likely sustained before he was barricaded in the closet. Now he said he didn't have any other relatives, but when we pulled his birth certificate you are listed as the father."

Poseidon was silent, trying to wrap his mind around what he had just been told. He had dated Sally 11 years ago when he and his now ex wife Amphitrite were going through a divorce.

"Sir?"

"Yes sorry, I'm still here."

"As you are Percy's only living relative, he is being released into your custody. Are you able to come to New York and pick him up?"

Poseidon nodded before he realized that the man couldn't see him, "Yeah sure I can do that. It will take me about 2 and a half hours to drive from Albany to New York City though."

"That's fine, the boy is spending the night at Mercy Hospital. Just go there when you arrive in the city and a nurse lead you to Percy's room."

3 hours later

The sun was just starting to rise when an exhausted Poseidon pulled into a parking spot and walked into the main entrance of the hospital.

Walking up to the receptionist, Janet, he asked where he was supposed to go. After typing in Percy's name onto the computer Janet led Poseidon toward the elevators, "Your son is on floor 3 room 303. If you get lost just look for the room with the cop outside it."

When the elevator stopped at Poseidon's floor he saw what Janet meant, because right outside of one of the doors was a very bored looking cop.

"Hi," Poseidon said in an unsure tone of voice as he approached the man.

"Please be the boy's father," the man said wearily before realizing he was being rude and straightening up, "I'm sorry I'm Detective Lopez, it has just been a long night, and getting a statement out of that boy was like pulling teeth."

"Why was that?" Poseidon asked.

"The kid doesn't talk, unless he wants to. We eventually bribed him with a soda and a few candy bars into talking to us. I talked to the teachers at his school and apparently that's not normal for him. He has ADHD, dyslexia too, so apparently he is always bouncing off the walls and talking to others," Detective Lopez filled Poseidon in before continuing, "Well now that you are here you can just sign for him on these papers and he's all yours."

Poseidon took the papers from the detective and as he signed he said, "The kid isn't a package, shouldn't I have to do more than just sign for him?"

"Not according to state law, you are listed as the father on the birth certificate, as well as in the victim's will."

"Her will?"

"Oh yeah, we found her will in a drawer in the house, it was after we contacted you, she left everything to her son and said that if anything were to happen to her to please contact his father, Poseidon Olympian."

Poseidon nodded, absorbing all the information as he finished filling out the paperwork and handed it back to Detective Lopez.

"Alright thank you very much," the detective said as he began to leave, "If we have any more questions for him we will call."

Poseidon just nodded as he approached the closed door that Percy was supposedly behind. He hadn't seen Percy since he was a baby. When Triton was 4 Poseidon and Amphitrite had been fighting lot so they decided to separate for a little while and see where it went from there. Then he met Sally Jackson. She was fun and energetic and taught him not to be so cynical all the time.

They fell in love in a whirlwind, and so when Sally told Poseidon she was pregnant, he was thrilled. The next nine months flew by and before he knew it Percy was born. Everything was going great until one day when Amphitrite showed up. She had shown up to deliver divorce papers to Poseidon, but when she saw Sally and Percy she lost it. Poor Poseidon tried to explain himself to Sally, saying that he had no interest in renewing his relationship with Amphitrite, but Sally was just so hurt and confused that she took Percy and left. Poseidon looked for them for months to no avail, he had given up hope that he would ever see Percy again, until now.

Taking a deep breath Poseidon opened the hospital room door. The room looked just like he expected, white walls with crisp, white sheets. The only thing that was missing from the bed was the patient, who was sitting on the window sill looking at the traffic below.

He looked up when he heard the door opening. He had a big black eye that almost hid the look of hope all over his face, like perhaps this was all a bad dream and his mom was coming to rescue him, but when he saw Poseidon standing there his face turned into a scowl.

"Who are you?" Percy demanded to know.

"My name is Poseidon-"

"That's a stupid name," Percy interrupted, "Why are you here? Because I told that cop I wasn't going to any orphanage."

"No don't worry you aren't going to an orphanage," Poseidon said trying to sound soothing, "You're going to come home with me instead."

"There is no way in hell I'm going home with you," The eleven year old said as he stood up, "I don't even know who you are!"

"Hey watch your mouth," Poseidon said sternly, "Where did you learn words like that?"

"I'll answer your question if you answer mine, who are you?"

"I'm your father," Poseidon said bluntly.

Percy backed away from Poseidon as if an invisible force had hit him, "Why are you here? Go away I don't need you."

"You don't have anyone else to take care of you Percy," Poseidon said with a sigh.

"My mom will look after me like she always has."

"Percy," Poseidon said unsure of how to continue, "You do know that your mother is dead right?"

"You're a liar," Percy shouted as he threw the nearby pillow at Poseidon, "You're all liars, my mom wouldn't die and leave me here all by myself."

"Hey whoa calm down kid," Poseidon said as Percy started punching him with his fists. He calmly caught Percy's hands in his own. Percy suddenly stiffened and his whole demeanor changed. He went from fighting and stubborn, to meek, quiet, and scared in seconds.

"Please let me go," Percy whispered. Poseidon was so shocked that he just nodded and let go. Percy shot away from Poseidon the second he let him go.

"I wasn't going to hurt you," Poseidon informed the shaking child.

"I- I just don't like people restraining me," Percy said timidly as he pulled his arms around his stomach. That was when Poseidon saw a nasty gash on Percy's right arm. It looked like it had been closed up with 14 stitches.

"Where did that come from?"

"Where the hell do you think it came from?" Percy snapped.

"Hey! I mean it, watch the language, my fifteen year old son doesn't get away with it, so I'm defiantly not going to let my 11 year old."

Percy looked down at his bare feet for a moment or two before he spoke again, "I got the cut from the same person I learned my "language" from. The same person that kil- hurt my mom."

Poseidon opened his mouth to say something but there was a knock on the door followed by it being pushed open by a nurse.

"Hi," she greeted cheerfully, "You must be Percy's father. I just need you to fill out the discharge papers and here is instructions on what to do with his arm and his medications."

"Don't trust him April," Percy said glaring at Poseidon, "He's probably a serial killer."

"Well then I guess you better watch out," April teased as she looked at Poseidon's ID and took the signed papers back from him. As she walked toward the door she turned around to Poseidon and mouthed, "Good luck".

Yeah he was going to need it.

**I know this one is short, but I wanted to get things set up. Also, if anyone has a good idea for Poseidon's last name that would be great, because right now I can think of nothing but Olympian. ;)**

**Anyway thanks for reading and please review so I know how I am doing!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Trials and Tribulations Chapter 2**

**Disclaimer: I don't own them**

They had been on the road heading to Poseidon's house for about thirty minutes before Percy spoke up, "Where do you live?"

"In Albany, on a horse ranch."

"Wow you own horses?"

"Yes, I run a rehabilitation center for them. Horses from bad pasts or with bad habits get sent there and I treat them. I keep the ones that I can't find a home for, but most go back to their owners or they are sold to loving families. My son, Triton, has a horse named Chariot, they compete in show jumping competitions."

"Who else lives on the farm?"

"Just me and the horses."

"What about your wife? Or Triton?"

"Triton lives with his mother during the school year. She lives about 30 minutes from the ranch. He spends the summers with me though, so you will get to meet him sometime this week when school gets out."

"Do you run the farm all by yourself?"

"No I have a couple of ranch hands, they will help me groom the horses, feed them, and clean up their stalls. I take care of my horse, Skylla, but I call her Sky and Triton takes care of his horse when he is there. I'll find some chores for you to do, you can probably help feed the horses or groom them. Have you ever ridden before?"

"My mom and I went riding a couple of times when we were on vacation."

"Well then you can pick out a horse with my help, and if I don't think you will go falling of him then you can ride him, maybe even compete if you want to."

"Can I help with the rehab horses?"

"Probably not, I don't even let Triton around them that much, they can be pretty wild and sometimes dangerous, but we will see."

"Do you have any other family?"  
"What is this an interrogation?" Poseidon said with a chuckle.

"I just like to know things."

"I have two brothers, Zeus and Hades, and one sister, Hestia. Zeus is my only younger sibling and he has five kids, Apollo and Artemis, who are twins, they are nineteen and should be getting back from visiting their mother in a few weeks, Hephaestus who is seventeen and Ares is fifteen are his children with his wife Hera, and his daughter Thalia is fourteen, Thalia's mom died when she was six and she went to live with Zeus and his wife.

My older brother Hades is married to a woman named Persephone and he has one son named Nico, who is eight, from his previous marriage. His first wife and daughter, Bianca, were killed in a car accident 4 years ago. And lastly, Hestia, my oldest sibling, well she is just Hestia. She works as a family therapist, she likes helping mend families back together."

"What do your brothers do?"

"Zeus is a judge and Hades is a medical examiner."

Percy wrinkled his nose in disguise, "Like the person that cuts dead people open?"

"Yeah," Poseidon said with a chuckle when he saw Percy's face, "Hades has always been a little odd. But I would rather spend time with him then Zeus. Zeus likes to throw temper tantrums when things don't go his way."

Poseidon opened his mouth to continue, but his phone ringing cut him off.

He looked at the caller id for a second before he groaned and answered, "Hello Amphitrite."

Percy could hear an annoying voice but couldn't tell what she was saying.

"Well what do you mean he isn't at your house," Poseidon exclaimed.

There was a moment of silence where Poseidon was listening to something the woman was saying before he continued, "No I'm not at the ranch I had to leave town to handle a, um," Poseidon said with a quick glance at Percy, "I had to handle a family emergency."

Percy glared at Poseidon at that comment.

Poseidon ignored the glare and continued, "Well I am pulling up to the ranch now, let me look around and I will call you back. Alright? Okay bye."

He put the phone in the cup holder as he turned onto a long dirt driveway, before stopping the car and looking at the glaring child beside him.

"What?"

"She doesn't know about me does she?," Percy asked angrily.

"No she doesn't," Poseidon said carefully, not wanting to anger the boy.

"Why are you embarrassed about me and Mom? So you thought that you would just leave us and pretend we didn't exist!" Percy shouted back.

"Percy, don't talk about things that you know _nothing_ about," Poseidon said firmly.

"You left us," Percy said as he crossed his arms.

Poseidon inwardly groaned before he took a deep breath, he wanted to explain to Percy, but he couldn't bring himself to.

"Percy let's just talk about this later okay?" Poseidon was exhausted, he didn't want to deal with this right now. Percy silently nodded and looked back out his window. Poseidon took this as his cue to continue to drive up the driveway where he quickly parked his truck and jumped out when he saw a figure sitting on his porch.

"Hey Dad!" An excited Triton said as he ran up to hug Poseidon.

"Triton! What are you doing here?"

"I missed you so I skipped school and took the bus here," Triton said casually, acting like nothing was wrong.

"Your mother is freaking out," Poseidon said angrily as he ran his hand through his hair. These boys were going to drive him crazy.

"Who's this?" Triton asked as he saw Percy approaching them.

"I'm Percy," Percy said as he stopped a few feet away from them with his arms crossed.

Triton sent his father a questioning look. Poseidon groaned and felt like banging his head into a wall, he had been hoping to have a little while to figure out how to explain this to Triton.

"Triton, when your mom and were separated, I dated a woman named Sally Jackson-" Poseidon started before Triton interrupted.

"Wait this is your kid?!"

"Yeah trust me I wasn't too thrilled either," Percy said while glaring at Triton.

"Boys," Poseidon interjected sternly before they could start fighting, "Triton go inside and call your mother. Percy come with me, I will show you around."

Percy silently trailed after Poseidon as he showed him around the ranch, looking when Poseidon pointed at something, but not really paying attention. All he really got from the tour was that the house and barn were close to each other, and that Poseidon had 500 acres of land. So basically he was rich.

"Where did you get the money for all this?" Percy blurted out before he could stop himself.

"I was an Olympic swimmer for a while, and I owned a few horses that were great race horses," Poseidon said looking back at Percy as they walked into the barn.

"Now my horse, Sky, is the palomino over there," Poseidon said as he pointed to the far right corner, "And Chariot, Triton's horse, is the bay right next to her. The horses on the left side of the barn are mostly rehab horses," Poseidon explained as he watched Percy wander around the stalls reading their names and looking at them. He turned away for a moment when he heard someone approaching them.

Triton kicked the ground as he approached his dad and his, ugh, brother.

"Mom is going to come by and drop off some of my stuff," Triton mumbled as he looked up at his father.

"And?"

"And I'm grounded for a week, and you are supposed to give me the worst chores around the ranch. Which means I guess I will be shoveling horse-" Triton began, but stopped as he looked behind Poseidon at something. Poseidon swung around in time to see Percy approaching the one stall he shouldn't.

Percy was walking to the last stall on the left. There was a nameplate that read "Blackjack", but Percy couldn't see him. He approached the stall, but stopped when he heard Poseidon yell something. As he turned to see what he wanted, a jet black horse head popped out from the stall and tried to bite Percy. Yelping, he jumped back and fell on the ground.

"Shut it," Percy said as he glared at Triton, who was laughing at him, as he got up from the ground.

"Sorry Percy," Poseidon said as he helped him stand up, "That's Blackjack, he is a little loco, even for me. He was caught in barbed wire when I found him, and he looked like he had been abused before then. Doesn't really like anyone to come near him, if he doesn't start letting us help him soon, we may have to put him down."

Percy seemed upset by that statement, but didn't say anything. Triton opened his mouth to say something, but was interrupted by a horn honking as it drove up.

"Mom's here with my stuff."

"Thanks Captain Obvious," Poseidon said with a sigh as he motioned for Percy to follow him.

"Speaking of stuff, I don't have any clothes besides the one on my back."

Poseidon bit back a groan. He solved one son's problem, and the other one managed to find another. Pulling out his cell phone, he quickly texted Hestia.

_I need clothes for an eleven year old boy, can you get some?_

_ Sure... I probably have some of Apollo, Hephaestus, and Ares old clothes in a Goodwill pile somewhere. Why?_

_ I will explain when you drop them off._

_ Okay, see you in a little while._

Poseidon finished reading the last text as Amphitrite approached.  
"Who's this?"

"I'm Percy, your son's brother," Percy said casually, like he was saying his favorite food was ice cream.

"Do you remember Sally?" Poseidon asked as he rubbed his forehead, feeling a headache coming on.

Amphitrite's eyes hardened, "Oh yes, I remember Sally. She's -"

Poseidon quickly interjected before Amphitrite could say anything that could upset Percy, "Yes that's here."

"Well what is he doing _here_?"

"Maybe I just felt like having a super awkward family reunion," Percy replied sarcastically, "Or you know maybe because my psycho step-father killed her."

Percy took off running down the driveway after that statement. As he ran tears started to blur the landscape around him. He kept running, planning on running all the way back to New York if he had too. Well until a red jeep almost flattened him to a stop. He quickly dove out of the way, hitting the ground hard as he heard car brakes squeal to a stop.

"Oh my god! You are okay?" A women in her mid 40s with light brown hair and hazel eyes demanded to know as she kneeled over him. Percy who had the wind knocked out of him could only nod as she helped him to his feet.

"Are you sure you are okay? That looked like a really hard fall."

"I'm fine, trust me really, I've had worse," Percy said as he looked down at the ground, kicking his feet and watching the dust clouds until a few red drops fell onto the dirt.

"Oh great," Percy moaned as he looked at his arm, where a few stitches at popped, "He is gonna flip out when he sees this."

"Percy! Hestia!" Poseidon yelled as he ran to where they were standing, "What happened?" he demanded before turning to Percy who was trying to look as casual as possible, "Are you okay?"

"I'm so sorry Poseidon," Hestia instantly started apologizing, "I almost ran him over! He just came out of nowhere, and I think I hurt his arm," Hestia said as she gestured to Percy's now profusely bleeding arm.

Percy shook his head as if to deny the fact, "No really I'm fine she is overreacting, and _hey_ _don't touch!_" Percy shouted as he tried to yank his arm from Poseidon's hand.

"Just hold still for a second and let me look at it," Poseidon said calmly as he ignored the death glare he received from Percy, "It looks like you popped a few stitches open."

"I _know_ popped a few stitches, now let _go_," Percy said as he successfully yanked his arm free. Percy looked like he was about to continue when Hestia broke in.

"Would someone please tell me what is going on?"  
"Hestia this is Percy," Poseidon said as he took a deep breath trying to figure out how to phrase the next part, "He is my-"

"Bastard, love child; take your pick," Percy said with a scowl as he started to walk back up the drive to the ranch.

"Where is Sally?" Hestia asked as she put two and two together to figure out who Percy's mom was.

Poseidon just shook his head sadly and walked up the drive after Percy.


	3. Chapter 3

**Trials and Tribulations Chapter 3**

**Disclaimer: I don't own them**

"Ow," Percy yelped as he tried to jerk his arm away for the fifth time from Poseidon, "You don't even know what you are doing! Stop you are going to make it worse."

"The doctor said to clean it with hydrogen peroxide."

"Yeah they said clean it, not drown the cut," Percy snapped, "Besides you are supposed to put it on a tissue or something first and dab it around the wound."

"And how would you know that?" Poseidon snapped with a scowl on his face.

"Well I clearly know more than you," Percy yelled back with an almost identical scowl.

A chuckle from the doorway made them both look over. "No please by all means carry on," Hestia said with a smile.

"Shut up," Poseidon muttered under his breath.

"Ah, ah, ah, be nice or I will make you introduce Percy to the others without any backup."

"They can't be that bad," Percy said sending Hestia a nervous glance.

A screen door slammed behind her as Triton came in from saying goodbye to his mother. "They're worse," Triton said with a smug smirk before looking at his dad, "C'mon dad, it's hopeless. If he managed to get himself busted up on his first day here there is no way he will survive when he has to actually interacts with horses. We should just return him."

"Triton," Poseidon warned firmly, without looking up from Percy's arm.

"Whatever, I'll be upstairs," Triton muttered as he stomped up the stairs and slammed his door.

There was an awkward silence only broken by Percy's hisses of pain.

Clearing her throat Hestia spoke, "Well I already got the upstairs guest room ready for Percy, so do you want me to call Hades and Zeus or make lunch?"

"How about we just don't call them?" Poseidon said hopefully.

"The longer you wait the more questions there will be," Hestia whispered to Poseidon.

"I can _hear_ you," Percy interjected as he father rewrapped his arm.

Poseidon sighed and banged his head on a nearby cabinet, "Why don't you just invite them to lunch?"

"Oh that's a great idea!" Hestia instantly got excited about the idea of having the whole family together, "Okay well if we are having the whole family over then we might as well order pizza. You go order that while I call Hera and Persephone. And Percy go change your clothes, you want to make a good first impression."

Poseidon and Hestia rushed out of the room leaving on very confused Percy in the kitchen. He slowly walked up the wooden stairs and was greeted with a hallway that had 3 closed doors. One at the very end of the hall, one on the left near the top of the stairs, and one in the middle on the right wall.

Percy stood there unsure of which door to choose. The door at the end of the hall opened and Triton emerged.

"What do you want?" He said annoyed.

"Um, which one is my room?"

Triton's face seemed to soften a little, "The door closest to the stairs is Dad's, this door," Triton said as he opened the door on the right, "Is your room. Each bedroom has their own bathroom. You have a pretty cool room if I say so myself, it looks out of some fields and you can see the barn and the driveway."

Percy just nodded, too shocked to say anything. This room was like 3 of his old rooms put together.

"Triton, can you come downstairs and help me," Poseidon shouted. Triton looked at Percy for a second longer before walking out the room and down the stairs.

Percy wondered over to the dresser and opened it to look at the clothes that were inside, before he closed it and walked over to the bathroom. Smiling he ran and jumped onto the queen sized bed. This was awesome, he couldn't wait to show Mom.

And then it hit him, he could never show Mom anything again, or tell her about his day, who annoyed him, what he did. He could never feel her hugs again, or have her hold him when he was sick. He could never wake up on Saturday morning to her making blue pancakes ever again. Before he knew it Percy was sobbing into a pillow. He heard the doorbell ring a few times and could hear people milling about downstairs and talking. Someone called his name a few times but he didn't budge.

Eventually he heard the door creak open and the bed dip as someone sat down beside him. The person didn't say anything, just rested a gentle hand on Percy's back as he cried.

After Percy had stopped crying they finally spoke, "Do you want to go downstairs and get something to eat?" Poseidon asked.

Percy wouldn't take his face out from the pillow and just shook his head no.

"Do you want me to bring you something up?"

Another headshake made Poseidon sigh.

"Percy I know you feel all alone, but you aren't."

"Oh really," Percy said in a tear filled voice as he lifted his head from the pillow, "Tell me when did you witness your mom get murdered, and almost get killed yourself? You know _nothing_ about what I am going through or thinking. You _don't know me_."

Percy just stared silently at Poseidon for a moment unsure of what to say. Poseidon stood up and walked to the door.

Poseidon cleared his throat, unsure of what to say, before walking to the door but turned around at the last moment and said, "We'll be downstairs when you feel like coming down." With that he was gone and walking down the stairs.

Percy sat on the edge of his bed for ten minutes trying to get his feet to move. Eventually he took a deep breath and slowly walked down the hall and to the stairs. When his foot hit the first step, all noises downstairs stopped. Percy could feel the tension from upstairs and briefly considered running back upstairs and staying in his room. But he had already come this far, and that pizza smelled really good.

When he had walked down far enough to see everyone's faces he stopped, unsure of what to do. A teenage girl with spiky black hair smiled sympathetically at him and approached him with a piece of pizza.

"Here, shove your mouth full of food. That way they can't ask questions," she whispered to him as she handed him the plate. Percy did as suggested and tried to slip out of the room with the girl, but his father snagged his jacket when he saw him try to escape. Percy just wiggled and slipped out of the jacket before trying to follow her but was distracted by a collective gasp from the room.

He glanced at everyone and then saw what they were looking at. The white bandage that had been covering the gash on his arm had slowly unwound while he was struggling to get his jacket off, and was now on the ground, leaving the gruesome looking stitched up gash for the world to see.

The room was so quiet you could hear a pen drop, everyone was looking at Percy's arm and then back up to his bruised face. Suddenly, Percy couldn't take it anymore and he ran out the screen door letting it slam as he raced outside.

He ran straight to the barn and slammed the door shut behind him. A couple of horses whinnied and looked up, but others looked like they could care less about the turmoil going on around them. Percy was running to the back of the barn when his foot got caught on a bucket and he tripped, landing right outside of Blackjack's stall door.

Blackjack's head shot out and Percy slowly started to scoot farther away. The movement startled Blackjack and he tried to bite at him. Feeling his frustrations build past the breaking point, Percy just started yelling at Blackjack.

"Just leave me alone _okay_! I didn't do anything to you! I'm sorry that you had a bad life before Poseidon rescued you, but that doesn't mean you should take it out on people who are just trying to _help you_. You aren't the only person in this world that shitty things have happened to," Percy slowly ran out of steam and felt sort of foolish for yelling at a horse.

Blackjack on the other hand, seemed like a changed person- er- horse. He was just staring at Percy, not snorting or trying to bite, just staring at him. Percy cautiously walked toward him, unsure if it was a trick to get Percy within biting distance or not.

When nothing happened, Percy began to stretch out his hand so that he could touch Blackjack's neck. He had just began to stroke the velvety fur when the barn door swung open and made Blackjack whiny and retreat further into his stall.

"Percy," Poseidon yelled as he ran to Percy and jerked him away from Blackjack's stall, "What did I tell you about Blackjack."

"But Poseidon, he wasn't-"

"I don't want to hear it. You can't just run off like that!"

"Well they didn't have to stare at me like that! I'm not a freak show. Why didn't you tell them that I was all busted up?"

"How was I supposed to know they would react like that?" Poseidon shouted.

"That's how _normal_ people are probably going to react!"

"Guess it is a good thing our family isn't normal, huh, Poseidon," said a man dressed in all dark clothes said as he entered the barn.

"Who the hell are you?" Percy shouted at the man.

"Percy," Poseidon said in a warning tone, probably annoyed about his language.

The man didn't seem to care he just smirked at Poseidon and said, "Well he seems like he is going to be just as much of a handful as you were as a kid."

"Bite me," Percy retorted angrily before gesturing to Poseidon, "I'm nothing like _him_."

The man just smiled and nodded like he was only doing it to appease the child, "Well I'm glad we cleared that up. I'm Hades, the man you are nothing likes brother."

"Are you the one that likes to play God with people's life or plays with dead bodies?" Percy asked as he was gently pushed forward by Poseidon in an attempt to get him to walk back to the house.

Hades raised an eyebrow at Poseidon as they began to walk back to the house at Percy's cynical comment, but answered his question nonetheless, "I work in the city morgue, but I don't _play_ with the bodies. I'm a medical examiner, I find out how people died and if there was foul play I do my best to help bring those people to justice."

"Yeah okay, whatever Batman," Percy said as he yanked open the screen door and the living area once again quieted down. The girl from before approached him holding the jacket that had fallen off of him earlier.

"You dropped this?" She said as she handed it to him, "I'm Thalia, by the way."

Percy just nodded and slipped the jacket back on. She lead him over to a chair near the sofa where a smaller kid with dark black hair was sitting, Percy figured he was probably related to Batman.

"This is Nico, his dad is Hades, he was with you when you walked in," She said and waited for Percy to nod his head before she turned to one end of the sofa that held two buff boys. One was covered in grease and had black hair that was slicked back and the other had shaggy brown hair and a scar on his face, "These are my half-brothers Hephaestus and Ares." They both tilted their heads in acknowledgment before going back to whatever argument they were having before. Thalia turned to the other end of the couch which held a boy with bright blonde hair that shone like the sun and a girl with darker auburn hair who looked like she just wanted to get out of here, "And these two are Apollo and Artemis, they are twins, and my other half-siblings."

"Sup kid," Apollo said as he barely glanced at Percy before turning back to annoy Artemis again.

"It's best just to leave them alone when they are together, they are always getting into fights," Thalia whispered to him as she gently lead him away and toward the kitchen. They stood at the doorframe where the adults hadn't noticed them yet and she pointed to each of the adults,

"See the young woman with the flower print dress on and long black hair? That's Persephone, she is Hades wife. And the woman talking to her with the brown hair and the peacock feather on her shirt is my stepmother, Hera. Last but not least the man with the salt and pepper hair over there talking to your dad is my dad, Zeus. And I'm hoping that I don't have to introduce you to the people you live with?" She said as she tapered off that statement suddenly unsure. Percy quickly shook his head no and Thalia looked around, "The only person I don't see is Aunt Hestia, but you have already met her haven't you?"

Percy opened his mouth to say something but before he could, one of the women Thalia had pointed to saw him and swooped in. "Oh my you are just adorable," Hera said with a evil looking smile on her face that immediately put Percy on edge, "You look so much like your father, but I see a little bit that must be your mother too."

She reached out to fix Percy's hair and he quickly stepped out of her reach. She put on a look of mock hurt before inching closer to Percy.

"Come now dear, it's not like I'm going to hurt you," Hera said in that mockingly sweet voice.

Percy's eyes darted to Poseidon, but he was engaged in a conversation with Zeus and wasn't looking this way. Percy, who had still been backing up, felt his back hit the wall and realized that he was quite literally trapped by this woman.

"So tell me dear, why haven't we met you before? Where did you used to live? Where is your mother? Did she abandon you? I'm so sorry to hear that." The woman started asking questions right and left, not leaving poor Percy any time to answer them. Suddenly a hand pushed her out of Percy's space and he sighed in relief.

"Back off Hera, not everyone wants to tell you their life story okay?" Thalia snapped as she pulled Percy from the corner.

"There is no need to be rude dearie, I was just trying to make him feel more at home. And get to know him better, after all he is my nephew."

"And I'm your stepdaughter, so you can now count two people whose life stories you won't be hearing." Thalia said as she grabbed Percy's hand and led him up to the top of the stairs where they sat down.

"I'm sorry about her, she is um-" Thalia trailed off trying to think of a word appropriate for an eleven year old.

"A bitch," Percy muttered.

Thalia let out a shocked laugh and then nodded, "Yeah she is that. She gets better with time, just don't let her smell your fear or she will pounce. But she did ask a good question, why are you just showing up now? I mean I can't really talk, I magically showed up with CPS after my mom ODed on alcohol and some sort of drug at Dad's doorstep when I was 8, but no one really ever expected this behavior out of Uncle P I guess."

Percy looked down at his shoe as it swung against the wooden stairs as he spoke, "My mom died," He said shortly, hoping she would just leave it at that.

"You guys get in a car accident or something, that how you get banged up?"

"No, no car accident," Percy said and suddenly everything felt too hot and cold at the same time. His hands were sweating and the room seemed to be getting smaller and smaller. He tried to take a deep breath but all that came out was short pants. Thalia was trying to talk to him with a look of concern on her face, but everything sounded underwater. Percy tried to stand to get to his room, but his legs gave out and he fell back onto the floor. He started to panic, he couldn't move, couldn't breathe, he thought he was going to die. The last thing he saw before he squeezed his eyes shut and wished for it all to be over was Thalia running down the stairs.

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	4. Chapter 4

**Trials and Tribulations Chapter 4**

**Disclaimer: I don't own them**

"Poseidon," Thalia screamed as she raced into the kitchen, practically colliding with him, "I'm so, so, so, so, sorry. I think I broke your kid."

Poseidon, who had grabbed Thalia's arms to steady her, gave her a weird look before asking, "What are you talking about?"

"The kid, Percy, we were sitting on the stairs talking and all of a sudden he just sort of started sweating and panting and he tried to get up but he fell back down. He is still up there!"

He released her arms and raced up the stairs with the adults, and curious children following behind him. Sure enough, Percy was still laying on the floor, clutching his knees, gasping for breath.

Poseidon knelt down near Percy and tried to touch his arm only for him to flinch away, and if at all possible, freak out even more. The crowd that had gathered around him was slowly pushed back by Hestia as she forced her way through.

"Back up, give him some space. I mean it _back up_," Hestia ordered as she knelt down beside Poseidon.

"He is having a panic attack," she whispered to Poseidon, "Sometimes my patients have them during rough therapy sessions. I have medication in my car, it acts like a mild sedative. It will calm him down and knock him out, just let him sleep out the panic attack basically."

Poseidon nodded his head in approval and Hestia got up and ushered the rest of the family back downstairs and she went to go get the pill.

"Come on Percy, let's get you sitting up," Poseidon said gently as he slowly helped his son prop himself up against the wall. Tears were streaming down his face and he was still gasping for breath, as he wrapped his arms around his stomach in a self hug. Hestia appeared beside them and bent down next to Percy with a bottle of water and a small white pill.

"Here take this, it will make you feel better."

Percy violently shook his head no and began to rock himself back and forth. Poseidon motioned for Hestia to give him the pill and water, and she did so, after giving him a warning glare to be gentle.

"C'mon Percy, just take this and then you can go to sleep," Poseidon bargained as he pried open Percy's hand and put the pill in it. Percy looked at him warily for a moment before he popped the pill into his mouth and took a sip from the water bottle offered to him.

"I'll take care of the vultures downstairs," Hestia said glaring at everyone who was standing at the bottom of the stairs.

Poseidon just nodded and sat beside Percy, waiting for the medication to kick in a bit before he tried to move him.

Hestia moved like she was going to go down the stairs before she hesitated and turned back to Poseidon with a look on her face.

"What Hestia?"

"I think you should tell them, what happened to him," she said as she gestured to Percy who was slowly falling asleep on Poseidon's shoulder.

"It's his story to tell, I know that any of us would have been pissed if anyone ever said anything about what Father did to us."

"But we didn't have a choice with our story, Father was a famous man. Of course the reporters were going to find out that he had some form of break down and attempted to kill us," Hestia argued, but the look on Poseidon's face said that he wasn't going to budge, "Fine, I'll go and get rid of the bloodhounds, I'll call you tomorrow to see how he is doing."

Poseidon mouthed a silent thank you and picked up a now asleep Percy, and carried him into his room. Laying him on the bed, Poseidon took of Percy's shoes and threw a blanket over him. He was about to walk out when the lump on the bed spoke to him.

"Your dad went psycho too?" Percy asked from the pillow.

"I thought you were asleep," Poseidon said with an internal groan. He didn't feel like explaining the gory details to the 11 year old, Triton only knew the very basic version of it.

"I got good at playing dead over the years," Percy admitted as he rolled over to face Poseidon, somehow his black eye managed to stand out even more in the moonlight.

"Yes my father went a little nuts. He was an alcoholic so that didn't help either."

"What happened?"

"Percy I'm not telling you this right before you go to bed, you'll have nightmares," Poseidon said firmly as he walked to the door. He turned around when he heard Percy shifting in bed, trying to get out.

"Stay," Poseidon commanded, "You have a sedative in your system, all you will manage to do is fall on your face. Where are you going anyway?"

"To find a computer," Percy said as he tried to support himself on the nightstand. Poseidon was doing his best not to laugh, something told him that wouldn't go over well with Percy.

"Why are you going to a computer?" Poseidon said with a chuckle.

"To google the incident, Chuckles," Percy muttered. Poseidon groaned and leaned his head against the doorframe.

"If I tell you an abbreviated story do you promise to stay in bed and leave the subject alone?"

Percy thought over the offer for a moment, before nodding and climbing back into bed. Poseidon sat on the edge of the bed and looked at Percy.

"Are you sure this isn't going to cause you to have another panic attack?" Poseidon asked nervously, after Percy nodded Poseidon sighed and began the tale, "When I was fourteen, my mom and dad got in a big fight. As I said before my father had started to drink a lot, and he wasn't the nicest when he drank. One day he hit Hades. When Mom found out she told him that she was taking us kids and leaving him, and we were never coming back. He got so mad, he started screaming and threw a bottle at her. It hit her and knocked her unconscious, and after that Father decided that is he couldn't have us, no one could. He grabbed a kitchen knife, and cut the phone line before he came after us four kids. Zeus was only 12, and he didn't know what to do or why Father was so angry. Hestia hid him in a closet, and Hades and I decided that we would make a distraction so that she could get to Mom and help her. Hades and I thought that it would be a good idea to try and lure him outside or maybe start the car and drive away and get help. We were trying to break open the car down when Father grabbed me and there was a struggle, he lost the knife so he slammed me against a wall and started choking me. Hades got into the car and slammed down on the horn, which got some neighbors to come and see what all the ruckus was about. Father was arrest for attempted murder, domestic violence, and child abuse. He has a parole hearing sometime this week if I remember correctly, to see if he can get out early on good behavior."

"They would let a psycho like that back on the streets?" Percy asked, suddenly looking nervous.

"I guess so, he has some good lawyers though, so I'm sure they found some loophole."

Percy yawned and tried to ask something else, but Poseidon held up a hand and got up from the bed.

"We agreed, I tell the story then you drop it. Now go to sleep, I'll see you in the morning."

Percy's eyes closed before he could even respond.

_He was being chased, and he knew that Gabe would be so mad when he caught him. He looked behind him, but he saw no one. Beside him he heard Mom scream his name so Percy ran toward the voice. _

_ "Mom?" Percy shouted, but there was no one there, the apartment was completely empty. Suddenly Percy heard a noise behind him and Gabe was charging up to him._

_ "I know you did it you little brat," Gabe yelled as he grabbed Percy's shirt and pushed him against the wall._

_ "What are you talking about?" Percy yelled back. Gabe raised his hand to hit him and-_

Percy jolted awake, soaked in sweat. Sunlight was streaming in his window, and he looked at the clock to see it was 7 in the morning. Knowing that it was pointless to try and go back to sleep, he got up and changed into some clothes, searched for and put on his shoes, and then headed downstairs.

Downstairs was completely empty so he opened the screen door to see if Poseidon was out there. He saw no one so he went back inside to make himself some breakfast.

Thirty minutes later, with six semi-circular pancakes Percy sat down at the island to eat when he could hear Triton and Poseidon arguing as they came down the stairs. They stopped at the bottom of the stairs and gave Percy a shocked look when they saw him.

"You can _cook_?" Triton said sounding slightly impressed.

"Um, yeah," Percy sounded confused, "You can't?"

"I can't boil water."

Percy laughed into his milk at that.

"I made some for you guys," Percy said as he nodded to the plates that each held two pancakes.

"Real food! For once," Triton said acting like he was going to cry.

"Shut up," Poseidon said as he lightly smacked the back of Triton's head, "I can cook. Just it's not always edible."

Percy rolled his eyes at the two as he got up from his seat and washed his dishes.

"Triton where are you going today?" Poseidon asked as he finished up his breakfast.

"I'm going to take Chariot out for a ride then I thought I might go visit Conner."

"Percy, one of my stable hands has a son about your age, he brings him to work sometimes. Maybe you could go and see if he is around."

"Aww you could have a little play date," Triton mocked as Percy walked out the door, Percy swung around and flipped him the bird before stalking off to the barn.

"Grover hand me that bale will you," he heard voices around an unfamiliar truck, but hey everything was unfamiliar he only moved here yesterday. Has he moved into sight the man stopped and put the bale down and the scrawny kid with curly brown hair beside him looked up.

"You must be Poseidon's other kid, he called us to let us know about you. I'm Drake, this is my son, Grover."

"Hi, I'm Percy," Percy said with an awkward wave before he skirted around them to go into the barn.

"You want some company?" the kid, Grover, called after him.

"Sure why not."

"So, why are you just moving in with your dad? Bad custody battle, that happened with my folks and man it was rough."

"No, no I didn't even know about him until yesterday," Percy said as he climbed up the ladder to the hay loft. Grove gave him a weird look, but followed.

"Then why are you here?"

"You always this nosey to people you just met?" Percy snapped.

"Yeah," Grover admitted with a chuckle, that caused Percy to smile and laugh as well, before he frowned.

"My mom died, so they shipped me off here to live with him."

"Poseidon isn't that bad, he is pretty fun, he lets me goof off and I am just one of the worker's kids, so it must be sweet to be his actual kid."

"I don't know, we haven't talked much. I'm surprised he isn't a serial killer, my mom didn't have the best choice in men it seems. Well I only ever knew Gabe," Percy trailed off.

"He couldn't be that bad could he?" Grover said trying to lighten the mood, "I imagine a guy named Gabe as a scrawny man with hippie hair with a really laid back attitude."

"Not even close," Percy said with a smile, "Try balding and fat and he was a psycho."

"Psycho? Overdramatic much?"

"No I'm summing him up about right." Percy said as the barn doors opened again.

Poseidon looked up when he saw two sets of swinging feet and called up to the boys, "Boys if you want to help you can come and wash off some of the horses, it is hot and I would like to cool them off."

"Sure Mr. P," Grover said and climbed down with Percy following at a slower pace.

"Alright none of the rehab horses should have a problem with you taking them out and hosing them so just be careful and make sure you tie their lead rope to the post so they don't bolt. And make sure you don't-"

"Go near Blackjack?" Percy guessed. Poseidon nodded.

"I'm going to be working with Sampson so you guys don't have worry about him," He said as he clipped a harness on Sampson and led him out to a pen where Percy guessed he worked.

"Let's start with Sky, she is your dad's horse, she's really chill so she won't mind us and you can get used to it."

After finishing all the horses Grover and Percy realized they had managed to get just as much water on each other as they had the horses. Percy's sweatshirt was sticking to his back and probably looked as uncomfortable as it felt.

"Dude why don't you lose the hoodie, it is like 99 degrees out here?" Grover asked. Percy sighed and debated it, he could take off the sweatshirt and raise questions about his arm or he could leave it on and raise questions about why he was leaving a sweatshirt on in 100 degree weather. Finally he shrugged and took it off.

Grover whistled when he saw the stitches on Percy's arm, "Wow, you get in an accident or something?" The second he said it he wished he hadn't, Percy got a faraway look in his eyes so Grover felt the need to say something, "Look dude, I don't care what happened before, I'm not going to stop talking to you because you have a past. My mom did some stuff and I lost friends cause of it so I always swore I would never be that guy. Plus my dad and I just moved here a 2 weeks ago so it wouldn't do either of us much good to go alienating the first person our age we meet we meet."

Percy gave him a weak smile but nodded his head, "Gabe gave it to me. He got really drunk and I don't know I must have given him sass or something because one minute I'm standing there and the next he decks me and come after me with a knife, saying how he has had enough. He got me in the arm before my mom intervened. It's my fault she is dead."

"You can't blame yourself, I'm sure she wouldn't want you to," Grover said, but seeing how it wasn't cheering him up he got an idea, "Hey what do you say that we go into town? There is a diner, we could get food and see what else there is to see around here."

"How do you plan on getting us to town without being seen by our dads?"

"These magically things called bikes, I saw two in the back of the barn," Grover said and grinned after he saw Percy nod.

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	5. Chapter 5

**Trials and Tribulations Chapter 5**

**Disclaimer: I don't own them**

Twenty minutes later Percy panted as he biked beside Grover, "This was the worst idea ever."

Grover panted back, "It is all uphill the way there, think about how awesome it will be on the way back. Besides were are almost there."

Sure enough the lone road that they had been biking on reached an intersection up ahead. Left led you into a posh looking subdivision with an automatic gate, straight led to a more affordable looking subdivision, and right led to what looked like to Percy a smaller and less hectic New York City. All sorts of shops of all kinds, crammed right next to each other.

Grover took a right toward it and biked a little further until they reached Mame's Cafe where he braked and hopped off.

"This is where I normally go for lunch," Grover said gesturing to the small brick building in front of them as they approached it, "It's really nice, the woman that runs it insists that you call her Mame, not ma'am, it's like ma'am with an e on the end." With that he opened the diner door and a little bell jingled.

Most of the booths were full, but the island counter was empty expect for one girl with blonde hair, so Grover and Percy walked over there and sat down.

Grover and Percy were looking at a menu and waiting for "Mame" to come take their order when suddenly the blonde girl sat down beside them.

"Um," Percy said, "Hi?"

"Are you two from out of town?" She interrogated.

"I guess you could say that," Grover said, "We both just moved here."

She took a sip of her vanilla milkshake and looked them both over before saying, "I'm Annabeth."

"I'm Grover."

"Percy."

"Hmm, where did you move from?"

"I moved from Washington state with my dad," Grover said and shot Percy a nervous look.

"New York City," Percy said shortly hoping if he was rude she would go away.

"I've always wanted to go there! What is it like?"

"Loud."

"What happened to your arm?" She asked, her gray eyes turning stormy.

"I lost a fight with a knife. Anymore incredibly personal questions?"

"Yeah," Annabeth said with a smirk, "Are you Poseidon's kid?"

Percy who had been resting his head on the counter top lifted it up so fast it almost hit Grover, "How do you know that?"

"I knew it!" She said triumphantly when she saw the looks on the boys faces she smiled and explained, "Calm down, my mom works with your Aunt Hestia and your aunt said that it would be good for you to make some friends. And my mom said it would be good for me to have some friends," she said with a scowl on her face.

Grover and Percy looked at each other and shrugged, she seemed harmless and nice enough. The kitchen doors opened and a woman in her early 60s came out and approached the trio, her nameplate read Mame.

"Hello Annabeth, Grover right? And I am going to take a wild guess and say that you are Percy Jackson?"

Percy nodded, "Yeah, but um why do you know that?"

"Because I just got a call from Grover's dad, Drake, wondering if they had seen you two because you two seemed to have magically "disappeared" from the ranch. I said I'm sure that you boys just forgot to tell them that you were heading down here for some lunch. But Poseidon seems to be under the impression that you would be hightailing it back to New York City."

"Trust me I would if I had the money," Percy muttered. Mame picked up the nearby menu and whacked Percy on the head.

"Ow," Percy said as he went to rub his head, "What was that for?"

"Don't you go scaring your dad now boy. Hurt him enough the first time you disappeared. Now I'll just go back there and tell them that you two are as right as rain and be back in a second."

"Wait what do you mean the first time?" Percy called after her, she didn't respond and just walked away. Percy swung around to look at Annabeth, "How long have you lived here?"

"My whole life, expect for the vacations I spend with my dad and stepfamily in San Francisco," Annabeth said suddenly nervous by the fire in Percy's eyes.

"_What_ was she talking about when she said "the first time"?"

"I don't know I'm the same age as you, if you did go missing before I would have been a baby just like you," She said raising her hands in an "I'm innocent" fashion, "But I mean if you suddenly did just disappear with your mom maybe there is a newspaper article about it. They keep old ones in the library, we can look through them."

Percy got up from his seat and started walking toward the door with Annabeth. Grover moaned, "C'mon guys what about food?"

"I'll pay for your snack at a vending machine in the library," Percy promised as he started to put his hand on the door to leave Mame came back out.

"Hey where do you boys think you are going. I told your dads' I'd keep an eye on you until they got here."

Percy's eyes got wide and he turned to his two friends and whispered, "How fast do you think she can run?" They all got the message and threw open the door and ran out across the street, not stopping until they had turned the corner.

"Man we are in so much trouble," Grover moaned worriedly.

"Don't worry about it, I'll say I dragged you into it. You just went along with me to make sure I didn't do anything stupid. Now Annabeth where is the library?"

"Right up there," she pointed to a white brick building about a block away, "We are going to have to figure out when you left town though, otherwise we will have to search through years of old newspapers."

"It had to be when I was really young, maybe a baby, because I remember some toddler events in New York, like the zoo and other stuff."

"So we are probably thinking 11 years ago when you were a baby. When were you born?"

"August 18th."

"So let's try from September of that year up," Annabeth said as they walked into the cool and dim library and up to the receptionist.

"Hi," she said as she plastered on a sweet smile, "We need to see your spools of old newspapers."

The librarian looked down at the three 11 year olds suspiciously, "Why?"

"Summer project," Percy said smoothly. She looked at him for a moment before nodding and leading them to a back room.

"They are all in this box here, please put them back in chronological order. Do you know how to work the machine?" After seeing Annabeth nod she smiled and left.

Annabeth loaded the first one which went from September to November of 11 years ago. They scrolled through all articles scanning for any mention of a missing baby or mother, and found nothing. Same with the ones from December through March

"What if we are looking at this all wrong?" Percy asked as he helped load the ones from April to July.

"I don't know. I mean the fact that you weren't kidnapped means that there may very well not _be_ an article on it," Annabeth said as she scrolled through all of the Mays news.

"Wait stop," Grover said suddenly, "Scroll back to May 28th."

Sure enough there was a side article on how Poseidon's girlfriend, Sally Jackson, and their baby 9 month old baby Percy had disappeared in the middle of the night.

"We found no evidence of foul play and Mr. Olympian confirmed that he and his girlfriend had been arguing. This may very well be a runaway bride scenario," Percy said as he read the article. Percy sighed and grabbed his hair before banging his head on the desk.

"Annabeth is there any way we can print this article?" He asked.

"Yeah I can scan it and make you a copy hang on."

After successfully scanning the copy, she handed it to Percy who folded it into his pocket and helped them clean up the spools.

"That's so awful that she told you that your father left you when she is the one that ran," Annabeth said.

"_Don't talk about my mother like that_," Percy snapped, "And she never told me anything, I just assumed and I guess she just let me assume whatever I wanted."

Annabeth opened her mouth to apologize but was cut off by the librarian, "Yes they are back here. They said they had to look through some spools for a summer project."

"Thank you," Percy heard Poseidon's voice and he looked at the emergency exit weighing his options.

"Just stay here and stay calm, I'm sure he will understand," Annabeth tried to sooth Percy. And Percy knew he was being irrational, Poseidon had given him no reason not to trust him, but his fight or flight instinct was screaming "_Run, run now you idiot!"_ And so, he did.

He slammed open the emergency exit and it let out a wailing alarm that made Percy run even faster. To make things worse it looked like a storm was coming, Percy hated storms. But he didn't care right now, he just kept running and running. He must have run out into a street at some point because cars were slamming on their brakes and honking at him. He slowed down as he began to encounter less and less people on the sidewalk and there were less and less cars around him. Finally he stopped and sagged against the nearby brick wall.

He didn't know what he wanted anymore, he wanted to go back to New York City and he wanted to go back to the ranch, he wanted his mom and he hated her at the same time for taking away a chance at getting to know his father, he wanted to get to know his father but Percy had severe trust issues. People around him were looking at him as they passed wondering who this scrawny kid was leaning against the wall.

After a big group of pedestrians walked past him he happened to glance to his right and see Poseidon. Percy's whole body froze for a second before he took off running down the street, straight toward an intersection.

"Percy," Poseidon shouted at him as he started to chase after him, "Percy stop."

Percy was so distracted he didn't see the truck but when he heard the horn slam down he looked left and froze with fear. He thought for sure he was going to get hit, but at the last second a hand snatched his shirt and pulled him back with such a force, he and the person fell back onto the sidewalk.

Percy realized it was Poseidon as he was pulled into a hug, he wasn't sure who's heart was beating faster his or Poseidon's.

"Are you alright?" Poseidon asked quietly as he hugged Percy and after he felt Percy nod into his torso his pulled Percy away to look him in the eyes and his voice turned stern, "Good, because you are in so much trouble young man."

Percy opened his mouth to talk, but surprisingly went silent when Poseidon held up his hand in a "Stop" motion.

"I told Mr. Underwood to go ahead and take Grover and the bikes back to the ranch in the truck so I have to call my brother for a ride," Poseidon said as he pulled out his phone and texted someone. Not more than 5 minutes later a sleek black car pulled up beside them.

The driver side window rolled down and the one that Percy remembered Thalia calling Zeus said, "You rang?"

"We need a ride back to the ranch," Poseidon said as he opened the door to climb in before his brother could protest.

"What happened to you two?" Zeus said as he looked over his brother disheveled clothes and the stern look he gave his son. Zeus made eye contact with the boy in the rear view mirror and Percy quickly looked away from the glare. It took a lot to get his relaxed older brother upset, so he figured the kid must have done something major.

"Apparently Percy was never taught look both ways before crossing," Poseidon said and Zeus put two and two together. The kid had been making a break for it. He had been lucky with Thalia, the CPS agent had told him a lot of kids that are suddenly thrown in with another family become runners, trying to leave whenever they can.

Zeus turned to pull up the long dirt drive of the ranch and the second he put it in park Poseidon looked at Percy and said, "Inside, now."

The child huffed, but opened the door and started to walk to the house.

"Hey Dad what did he do?" Triton asked from over where he was grooming Chariot.

"Triton stay out of this," Poseidon warned.

But Triton didn't take the warning too seriously, he followed Percy as he started up the house steps and lightly pushed him before whispering, "I don't enjoy coming here during the summer to have to share my dad, and I defiantly don't like _you_. "

"Triton!" Poseidon yelled when he saw him push Percy, but before he could get more out Percy got up and punched Triton right in the gut. Zeus just raised an eyebrow and watched as the boys began to duke it out on the ground.

"Do you want some help breaking that up?" He finally asked.

Poseidon who had been waiting, hoping, that the boys would run out of steam on their own sighed and nodded.

"Dibs on Triton," Zeus said as they walked closer, "Your younger one looks rabid right now."

Poseidon rolled his eyes at his brother and they approached the fighting boys just as Percy managed to flip himself on top and raise his hand to hit Triton again. Poseidon just grabbed the fist and used Percy's momentum to swing him up and drag him away from Triton who was spitting mad and trying to follow the two of them until Zeus held him back.

"Both of you _calm down_," Poseidon yelled, but neither listened they just kept screaming profanities at each other.

"_Boys_" Zeus' voice boomed like thunder and both of the boys went silent immediately. Zeus looked up at Poseidon to see how he wanted to handle them.

"Triton, go put Chariot away and muck out the stalls."

"But Dad-" Triton started, but stopped after he received a stern glare, "What about _him_?"

"Your brother and I have a lot to discuss, and what I do with him is none of your concern. Now the longer you sit there and complain, the longer those stalls take." Poseidon said and Triton stormed off with a huff. Zeus nodded to his car to say that he was heading out and Poseidon nodded before steering Percy toward the house once again.

**As always please Read and Review!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Trials and Tribulations Chapter 6**

**Disclaimer: I don't own them**

Percy's body was tense, ready for a fight the second the screen door shut behind them the newspaper article burning a hole in his pocket.

Poseidon was completely silent and looked extremely calm and he passed his son and went into the kitchen, pulling out various pots and pans. Percy curiously followed him and stood in the archway watching him fill up a pot with water and set it on the stove.

Percy opened his mouth to speak when Poseidon beat him to it, "So summer school project, that's interesting considering I haven't even signed you up in this school system yet," Poseidon said without ever turning to look at Percy as he took out some spaghetti and put it in the water.

"I-I was helping Annabeth," Percy began before Poseidon cut him off.

"Oh yeah, what's her project on?" He sounded interested as he turned around and leaned on the countertop to face Percy.

Percy was silent for a moment before staring at his shoes and mumbling, "None of your damn business."

"Interesting topic, so if I call Annabeth's mom or ask Grover they will say the same thing?"

Percy said nothing, but the home phone ringing saved him from a lecture as Poseidon turned his back to answer it and as Percy slowly started to back away he heard part of the conversation.

"What are you talking about Hestia slow down?" there were a few seconds of silence before Poseidon spoke again "What article? What are you talking about, how does Athena even know what happened today?" Percy opened the screen door as he heard Poseidon sigh and heard no more of the conversation. He had just barely turned around from quietly closing the door, when two bodies almost smacked into him. Annabeth and Grover looked at Percy with guilty expression on their faces.

"What?" Percy said nervously, pretty sure that he wasn't going to like the answer.

"We are so sorry," Annabeth started before she took a deep breath, "But we felt that your dad should know, so we told your aunt about the article."

"You _what_?" Percy said in disbelief as he felt the color draining from his face, "I _trusted_ you guys, how could you?" He said as he started to walk away from them, feeling panic building in his chest.

The next thing he knew he was running down the drive, and he could hear Annabeth and Grove yelling behind him. "Most likely telling Poseidon, those traitors." He thought as he approached the main road and saw a truck approaching. Percy waved him down and he slowed to a stop.

"I need a ride to the bus station?" He said out of breath.

The elderly man in the the truck looked at him before saying, "Your parents know you are going there sonny?"

"Yes, I'm heading to my mom's for the summer." Percy said frantically, just needing to get away. The man nodded and opened the side door and helped Percy climb in before starting to drive off again. Percy let out a sigh of relief.

"Bus stations about 5 miles up ahead, should be there in a few," the man said without taking his eyes off the road.

"Thanks."

"You sure you want to do this kid?" the trucker driver said, giving him a sad, knowing look.

"Do what?"

"Run off."

"I don't know what you are talking about," Percy said, that funny panicky feeling coming back in his chest.

"Son, I've been trucking for 20 years, I've met a lot of run aways, I'm just asking are you sure?"

"I'm not sure of anything anymore," Percy admitted as the truck slowed down near the bus station and he began to climb out.

"Wait," the man called and fished something out of his pocket, "Here, it's the only change I got on me, but it should be enough for a call home if you change your mind."

"Thanks," Percy said and for the first time in what felt like forever gave a genuine smile, before climbing out of the truck and walking into the bus station.

Four hours later, one candy bar, two sodas, and one sob story of needing to get to New York City to a ticket counter lady, Percy was sitting outside on a rickety old bench in the chilly summer evening air. It was 9 pm, and Percy had three more hours to go before his bus arrived. Why anyone would want to board a bus at midnight, he didn't know, but as long as it got him to New York City he didn't care. He didn't know what he planned on doing when he got to New York either, but he would figure something out. His mom had always said he was street smart. Percy tried to keep his eyes open but the rhythmic sway of the sign that hung from the ceiling and the chattering of other people waiting for their bus was like an odd sort of lullaby, and before he knew it his eyes closed shut.

Percy finally woke back up because of two things. One, he was freaking cold. And two, some jerk had sat on his bench and moved his feet. Percy raised his head to glare at the person responsible for waking him and instead let out a groan when he saw who it was and buried his head back into his arms.

"What do you want Batman?" Percy mumbled from his arms.

Hades scoffed at the nickname but sarcastically answered the question anyway, "I was just thinking I might like to go on vacation, so I came down here to look at what buses were available when what do you know. The nephew that most of my family has spent the entire night looking for is taking a snooze on a bench, heading to," Hades trailed off as he leaned over Percy to snatch the ticket from his hand, "Heading to the Big Apple. Sounds like fun, were you planning to invite us along?"

"What the hell do _you_ think?" Percy hissed back as he tried to grab the ticket from Hades hands. Hades let him have it back as he stood up.

"The ticket won't do you much good now, it's 2 in the morning. Your bus is more than halfway there by now, good luck catching it."

Percy growled in annoyance as he got up to walk back to the ticket booth, but was stopped by a firm hand on his shoulder.

"And where are you going?"

"To exchange my ticket for the next one to New York City."

"No you are not," Hades said as he spun the boy around to look at him, "This little temper tantrum ends right now. You are worrying your father to death, he is afraid he is going to lose you-"

"Again right? That's what this is all about isn't it? The fact that I _magically_ disappeared when I was a baby with Mom? I've been thinking about it since I found that _goddamn_ newspaper article and I've decided that if my mom decided to leave she must have had a _really_ good reason. He must have been horrid, maybe he hit her, maybe he didn't want me," Percy's rant was cut short when Hades suddenly took hold of his shoulders and shook him.

"Don't you _dare_ talk about your father like that. He loved your mother and _loves_ you and your brother more than anything else on Earth. He was ecstatic when you were born, and my brother would never, _ever_ raise a hand to your mother or anyone else for that matter. And trust me you are lucky that Poseidon is your father, because Zeus or I would have put a stop to this little "Where is Waldo" game a long time ago."

"What would you do?" Percy shout back. "Kill me? Like father, like son _right_?"

"Then you have a lot to look forward to seeing as Poseidon and I share the same father."

"Then I guess it's good I don't have a _father_," Percy shouted.

Hades eyes flashed with annoyance for a second, but he just let out a sigh and let him go. Percy didn't run away, surprising both Hades and himself, just stood there and rubbed his hands up and down his arm in the chilly air. Hades said nothing, just jerked his head toward the parking lot and started walking toward his car, a subdued Percy following behind him. When they started to drive away Hades pulled out his phone and called someone.

"Hey 'Sephone, yeah I got him. Can you text Apollo, Artemis, Hestia, Zeus and Hera. No don't tell Poseidon, then he'll just be pacing by the door until we get there and he will probably end up waking the other kids up. Yep okay, love you too bye."

The rest of the ride was silent, with Percy shifting in his seat every few seconds and Hades gripping the steering wheel so tight his knuckles were white. When they finally pulled up the drive, there were 3 other cars waiting in the dark. Hades got out for a moment and went to talk to Persephone.

"We didn't want to walk in until you got here, we figured that would sort of be a huge hint to the fact that you had found him."

Hades nodded and said a few things to Hera and Zeus as Apollo and Artemis just sat there watching Percy in the car, as if to make sure he didn't make a break for it. "Probably what they are doing," Percy thought angrily. Hades suddenly turned around and started walking back toward the car, when Percy jumped up from the back and climbed into the driver's seat to lock the doors.

"Open the door," Hades commanded. Percy shook his head no with a smug smile on his face. When Hades hand went to his pocket for his car keys, Percy took them out of the ignition and danged them in front of the window.

"Kid it is late, and we are all tired, just get out of the damn car," Zeus said from beside Hades. Percy just flipped him off.

There was a chuckle and then Apollo spoke, "I like this kid."

"Yeah well I don't right about now," Zeus said annoyed as he stormed up the steps and threw open the front door to yell, "Poseidon come get your kid before I strangle him."

"You found him? What'd he-" Poseidon started to say as he walked out before he saw Percy and held in what Percy thought was a smile, "Don't you have keys Hades?"

"He has them."

"Hephaestus can you come out here?" Poseidon hollered and waited for the muscular boy to appear beside him, "You learn how to open a car without the keys in your mechanics class?" The boy nodded before he disappeared back into the house to get whatever tools he presumably needed.

Percy's eyes went wide with the sudden idea of being around so many angry, big men without the protection of the nice car. Without thinking, he put the keys back in the ignition and started the car.

"Don't you dare," Poseidon warned as Hephaestus approached the car and started the jimmy the lock. Percy just glared back at Poseidon, and put the car into drive and sat forward in the seat so he could put his foot on the brake.

"Perseus Jackson," Poseidon barked as he moved closer to the car. Just then the lock popped open and it startled Percy so much, that his foot slipped off the brake and he accidently hit the accelerator. He didn't go far nor was he going fast, but the car had been parked close to the pasture fence to begin with, but Percy slammed on the brakes as he ran into it. He had put his arms up to protect his face, so when the airbags deployed it smacked one of them hard against the car door.

Everything was ringing and going in slow motion for a moment, but then the car door was yanked open and he was pulled out and everything seemed to speed back up.

"He okay?"

"Little banged up."  
"Looks disoriented."

Was all Percy heard as he swayed back and forth. Suddenly, the boy with golden hair, why couldn't Percy remember his name? Appeared in front of him and shined a flashlight in his face. Percy squeezed his eyes closed and tried to turn his head away, but gentle hands turned them back.

"Open your eyes kid, I'm just going to see if you have a concussion," the flashlight boy said.

Percy whimpered when the light shined at him again, but obeyed, "Why don't I remember your name?" Percy asked frantically, getting nervous.

The flashlight shined in front of his eyes again, as if double checking something before he spoke soothingly, "It's okay you have a concussion, I'm Apollo remember. I'm your cousin."

"Don't feel good," Percy slurred. The arms that were helping him stand up, started to gently move him to one side.

"Let's get out of the way so Hades and Hephaestus can move the car," the soothing voice from behind him said.

Once they had stopped moving, Percy suddenly knew what the bad feeling he felt was. He was going to puke. He squirmed to get out of the arms that were holding him up, but they wouldn't listen to him! He wanted to sit down, he felt like he was going to be sick. When the arms finally helped ease him to the ground he opened his mouth to thank them, but his stomach had other ideas.

As his stomach emptied itself of its contents and then some, a gentle hand rubbed his back and the soothing voice spoke calming words. He heard footsteps approaching, but he was too tired to look up to see who they belonged too.

The voice behind him asked a question, but he was too busy throwing up to hear it.

"No its fine, scratches on the hood, but it looks like he slammed on the brakes as he approached the fence."

"Probably saved him from flying out the windshield," another voice commented. The arms around him instinctively tightened and Percy moaned as they squeezed his already aching body. They quickly loosened and rubbed his back.

"I think he needs to go to a hospital."

Percy shook his head no, but that made everything hurt worse which caused him to whimper.

"Shh," the voice behind him soothed, "I won't take you to the hospital if I don't have to."

"That's a brilliant idea Poseidon, listen to the kid who just drove himself into a fence. He is clearly in his right mind," a voice that sounded familiar said. Percy was so busy trying to remember who that voice belonged to that he didn't realize that the conversation had carried on and he suddenly said, "Batman?"

There was a long pause before an approaching voice spoke, "Well he defiantly lost it, I say we return him now Dad before his warranty is up."

"Triton," the voice behind him warned firmly, "He is a child not a toy you can just return."

"_Completely_ Coo Coo for Coco Puffs."

"_Triton_," the voice, who sounded a lot like Poseidon to Percy, snapped, "If you don't have anything helpful to say, go back inside."

"Actually he might not be, crazy I mean, he called me that the first night he met me and also today at the bus station," Batman, Hades, whatever his name was said. Thinking this much was making Percy's head hurt.

"'M tired," Percy muttered, trying to close his eyes, but was unsuccessful as someone gently shook him awake.

"No, no, you can't go to sleep just yet," Apollo said, before turning to talk to Poseidon, "Do you want me to call the doctor I am interning with? She might be at the E.R. tonight doing her rounds, she could check him out."

Percy heard no talking, but he assumed Poseidon had shook his head yes, as he heard Apollo on the phone with someone. There was a lot of talking a "really you don't have to do that's" before the sound of feet approached them again.

"She was just leaving the hospital, she says she will stop by here on her way home. She wants us to try and move him to his bed if possible."

"'ll sleep here," Percy slurred, trying to sound reassuring.

"He is like a tiny little drunk person," Apollo said with a laugh.

"Yeah, that's a no to sleeping out here Percy," Poseidon said with a chuckle as he slowly stood up, bringing Percy with him.

"Why? 'Fraid I'll disappear?" Percy slurred while sluggishly blinking at Poseidon's face, "Hate to tell you, but I have nowhere to go. Mom's dead she can't take me anywhere."

"Shh, Percy let's just get you inside. You'll feel better in the morning." Poseidon said quietly as he led Percy toward the house.

"You didn't want me to know? Why not? Not your fault that Mom ran off."

"Percy, hush." Poseidon tried to keep Percy from working himself up, when suddenly Percy's legs gave way, "Apollo what is wrong with him?"

"He is probably just in shock from the crash."

"Percy you need to stand up, or I'll have to carry you in," Poseidon said as he tried to get Percy back on his wobbly feet. After Percy's legs gave out again, Poseidon just gently picked him up.

"I'd be careful, he might puke on you," Apollo warned from somewhere behind Percy.

"I don't care. We just need to get him inside. He can hurl all over me if he likes."

Percy was so quiet, that Apollo feared he might have fallen asleep, "You okay there Percy?" he asked as they climbed the outside stairs leading to the front door.

"Dizzy" was his response before he spoke again, "Poseidon?"

"Hm?" was the only response Percy got as they climbed the stairs leading up to his bedroom.

"Momma's dead," he repeated.

Poseidon gently lowered him down onto the bed before responding, "I know buddy, I know."

**As always please Read and Review**


	7. Chapter 7

**Trials and Tribulations Chapter 7**

**Disclaimer: I don't own them**

The next coherent thing Percy remembered was the sound of his bedroom door creaking open as the first rays of sunlight were coming through the window. He groaned and buried his head into his pillow.

"Hey you up?" Poseidon asked and Percy felt the bed dip as he sat down beside him.

"What happened? I feel like I got hit by a bus."

"Close. Try a steering wheel after you hit a fence."

Percy just let out another groan and buried his face deeper into the pillow, he could feel a lecture coming on, "How about we both just pretend yesterday was a dream?" He said trying to weasel his way out of the lecture.

"Nice try," Poseidon said with a laugh as he pulled the pillow out from under Percy, "Besides yesterday wasn't all that bad, you made some friends."

"More like backstabbing bit-"

"Percy!" Poseidon interrupted, "Either way we can't just forget yesterday happened, it did. Now I know you know about that article, but I want you to know that it doesn't explain everything. And Hades said that you also had some very interesting things to say at the bus station last night."

"Does everyone in your family have such a big mouth?"

Poseidon let out another chuckle and went to ruffle Percy's hair, which of course Percy rolled away from, he wasn't used to good physical contact from men. Poseidon dropped his hand onto the mattress with a small sigh spoke again, "We are a close family Percy, there aren't many secrets. Except for Hestia, Hestia is the best secret keeper I know. Which leads me to another thing I wanted to talk to you about-"

"No way," Percy shouted as he rolled out of the bed, still dressed in yesterday's clothes.

"You don't even know what I was going to say."  
"Yes I do! You want me to go see some shrink! That's not going to happen, there are two things I don't do, physical contact and shrinks. Got it?"

Poseidon finally lost it, if this had been Triton he would have put a stop to the attitude when it started and he had let this carry on for too long, "Well that's tough shit Percy. Because I am the adult in the situation and you do what I say."

"Language Poseidon," Percy mocked as he put on his shoes.

Poseidon's hand slammed down beside him on the bed and Percy backed up a step. Poseidon took a breath to calm himself before he continued, "Enough. You are going to talk to someone and that is final. And as for your little escapade last night, you are not to leave an adult's sight for 1 week."

"Is that why Mom left? You try to control her every move too?" Percy asked bitterly.

"I may not know why your mother left, but I do know one thing and that is that she would never let you act like this. So I don't know where you got the idea that you can run off and steal cars, but it all stops now. If there is one thing I can do for your mother it is make sure that you don't grow up a miscreant."

"Yeah right. Like you would know anything about my mother. And now you just want to swoop in and try and fix everything? Well guess what it is 11 years too late." with that Percy ran out the door, down the steps, and outside. Poseidon sat on the bed for a moment with his head in his hands trying to figure out what to do.

"Dad?" Triton called softly from the doorway.

Poseidon rubbed his face and looked up, "Yeah?"

"Why are you doing this? It is so obvious that neither of you are happy," Triton said as he entered the room and sat down next to his dad.

"Triton, you know when you do something stupid and you get in trouble?" Poseidon waited for Triton to nod his head before he continued, "This is just like that. Just because I'm not happy with Percy right now, doesn't mean I can just give up on him. He has had a harder life than you so far, your mother and I always managed to keep a civil relationship and you always know how much you are loved. Percy grew up in an environment where he didn't know who his father was, and while I'm sure Sally showered him with love and affection, there is only so much a single mother can do. And the one father figure he did have, was a drunk."

"But he is still so-"

"He is lost Triton, he was ripped from the world he knew and just dropped with us. No transition, no nothing. One day he was happy and with his mom and the next she was dead and he was stuck here living with a bunch of strangers. Imagine if that was you, how would you feel? That is why I am _trying_ to give him space and a little leeway, so that he can come to us on his own terms. And I would appreciate it if you stopped making it so hard on him."

"I don't have to like him," Triton said stubbornly as he stood back up and walked to the door with his father.

"No," Poseidon said and looked like he was thinking that statement over, "But think about if you were in his shoes. Wouldn't you want a friend? A big brother?" With that Poseidon walked down the stairs, leaving Triton to think on his words.

Percy had stormed out of the house in such a rush he didn't really know where he was going. He saw Grover approaching him, so he tried to walk faster to get away from him.

"Hey Percy wait up! Percy wait. I'm sorry okay man?"

Percy whirled around, "Oh you're sorry? Well thank goodness that Grover is sorry." He shouted while approaching him, some of the ranch hands had stopped to watch the spectacle, but no one intervened. Percy paid them no mind and continued, "I trusted you. Told you everything. And you went behind my back and betrayed me. Now Poseidon thinks I'm some sort of _freak_ and is taking me to some shrink. So yeah thanks to you and that _wise_ girl my life _sucks_." With that Percy turned back around and stormed off to the barn, closing the door behind him.

Blackjack, for once, didn't rear up or whinny at the sight of Percy. He just sat there, watching him, waiting for him to make the first move. "People suck," Percy told Blackjack. The horse snorted in what Percy took as agreement. The barn door opened again and Percy glared at Triton as he walked closer.

"Hi," Triton said awkwardly.

"Hi," Percy snapped back.

"You really shouldn't be that close to Blackjack," Triton said unsure of how to start a conversation.

"I'll take my chances. If you are so worried, go stand back there."

Triton blow out a breath and tried again, "Why are you so interested in this horse anyway?"

"Because we are the same."

Triton sighed, he was trying, but he had better conversations with a brick wall, "Do you want to go on a ride with me?"

"Don't have a horse. 'Sides, I'm "not allowed out of adult eyesight" according to your dad."

"Our dad," Triton corrected, "And we could ask him if you could borrow his horse."

"Why are you being nice to me?"

"Do I have to have a reason?" Triton asked, and Percy gave him a "do I look stupid" look so Triton continued, "Fine, I feel sorta bad about how I acted before. So I thought maybe we could start over."

Percy made no noise, and instead just went back to staring at Blackjack.

"Look Percy, I know you think that you two are the same and all, but I wouldn't get attached to him. Blackjack is dangerous, Dad doesn't think he can help him. We might have to put him down."

"So just because Poseidon can't fix him immediately, he is going to kill him?" Percy questioned angrily.

"Blackjack has been here for 3 weeks, we can't get close to him. His stall hasn't been cleaned in forever, and the only way to give him food or water is to attach it to the stall door. He just isn't happy Percy, and there is no point in making him suffer more than he has to."

"Maybe he just doesn't like being closed up, he probably feels trapped."

Triton sighed and stood up, dusting the dirt off his jeans, "I'll talk to Dad about putting him in the corral, but I wouldn't count on anything changing Percy." With that he grabbed Chariot and walked out to saddle her and practice for their show jumping competition, and to talk to Poseidon of course.

Percy sat there lost in thought for who knows how long before Poseidon walked in and sat down beside him. Blackjack bared his teeth, but made no move to bite at either of them.

"Triton says you want to move Blackjack to the corral?" Poseidon saw Percy nod out of the corner of his eye and continued, "I'll make you a deal. I move the horse to the corral, and you go talk to Hestia."

Percy's eyes flashed with anger, but he knew that Poseidon had won this one. If he wanted Blackjack out in the open where he could get to him easier, he needed to at least go to the shrink's.

"Fine."

"Excellent, we better leave now then so we aren't late for your appointment."

"Wait what? How did you even know I was going to say yes?"

"I didn't," Poseidon shouted over his shoulder as he motioned for Percy to follow him to the truck and climb in.

"And what were you going to do if I said no?" Percy asked as he buckled in and Poseidon started down the drive.

"Drag you kicking and screaming," Poseidon said, "This way is just quieter for me."

Percy rolled his eyes and stared out the window at the shops they drove past. They finally slowed down at a small brick building with a stained glass front door. Poseidon hopped out and Percy figured that he must be lost.

"This doesn't look like a shrink's."

"It's not, it's Hestia. She sees people in her living room, says it makes them feel more at home," Poseidon said as he opened the front door and walked into the foyer.

"For Pete's sake Poseidon you scared the crap out of me," Hestia said as she quickly walked down a case of spiral, metal stairs.

"Then lock your front door."

Hestia just rolled her eyes at her younger brother and placed a hand on Percy's shoulder, leading him to what he guessed was the living room, "Be back for him in an hour." She shouted over her shoulder, "And lock the door on the way out."

"So Percy," She said as she turned her attention back to him and sat in a chair nearby the sofa he was sitting in, "How are you feeling today? You had quite the eventful day yesterday."

"Fine."

"Okay, well today I am going to just ask you some questions about your past. Nothing too hard. Okay let's start with your full name and birthday and where you grew up."

"But you already know," Percy stared but sighed when she gave him and look and continued, "Perseus Jackson, August 18th, I grew up in New York City."

While she jotted this down she asked something else, "And did you like it in New York City?"

"Yeah, it was a lot more eventful than here. Always something to do."

"Hm and who did you live with?"

"You already know this stuff why am I telling you it?" Percy demanded to know.

"I ask all my patients the same introductory questions, whether I know them or not."

"Fine," Percy snapped, "I lived with my mom and my step-father. Happy?"

"Ecstatic," Hestia said unfazed by his burst of anger as she continued to jot something down, "And what did they do for a living?"

"My mom worked at a candy shop. She wanted to be a writer though."

"And your step-father?"

"Does being an asshole count?"

"Step-father, occupation is asshole," Hestia murmured as she jotted something down.

"Why am I even doing this if you aren't going to take it _seriously_?" Percy shouted at her.

Hestia internally smiled, now she was getting somewhere with him, "I will take this seriously when you do."

"Screw you," Percy spat.

Hestia ignored that comment and continued on her line of questioning, "What was your favorite subject in school?"

Percy growled in frustration, but answered, "I didn't have one."

"You liked them all? You must be very smart."

"I _never_ said that!"

"Oh, you said you didn't have one so I assumed you liked them all."

"No! I don't like any of them. I'm terrible at school."

"Says who?"

"Everybody."

"Well I haven't said that, so it can't be everybody," Hestia said in a matter of fact tone.

"Seriously _lady_, how do you have _clients_ if you are this much of an _asshole_?"

Hestia stopped writing for a moment and looked Percy in the eyes before very calmly saying, "I have clients because I do my job. And my job is to help them through their problems, whether they want to or not. Now you can sit here and continue to act like this, but know this. I have been there and seen that, and this behavior is not going to scare me off or get me to stop asking you questions."

Percy crossed his arms in front of his chest and refused to make eye contact with her, but she could see some of the anger deflating from him.

"Okay," she said very calmly as she picked up her notebook again, "Let's try this again. Why did you not like school?"

"I'm just bad at it, I have dyslexia and ADHD so naturally I'm not the teacher's favorite."

"Couldn't your mom have helped you if you were struggling?"

"She did when she could, but she worked a lot. And it stressed her out to see that I was having trouble, so I pretended that I was doing fine."

"What about your step-father, couldn't he have helped you?"

"Gabe couldn't add 2+2."

"What about school friends, could they have helped you?"  
"Don't know, never had any."

"Were you bullied at school?"

"What do you think?" Percy shot back defensively.

"I don't have an opinion, that's why I asked you."

"Yeah sometimes, most the kids just acted like I didn't exist though."

"What about at home? Were you bullied there?"

"My mom would _never_ do anything to hurt me," Percy said in an attempt to avoid the conversation.

"And your step-father?"

"We would," Percy started before he hesitated, "argue."

"Would these "arguments" ever turn physical?" Hestia pressed and when Percy stayed silent she tried another approach, "Percy you know that everything you say in this room stays between us right? You have nothing to be embarrassed or ashamed of, if your step-father did hit you then he was the one that was wrong, it doesn't matter what the circumstances were."

Percy just kept his mouth shut and stared out the nearby window at the trees blowing in the wind.

Hestia realized that she wouldn't get anywhere else on that subject so she asked him the first question she could think of to keep him from retreating back inside of his head, "Did you have any pets?"

"What?" Percy asked looking at her like she had grown two heads, and shocked that she had let the subject go so easily.

"Pets, did you have any in New York?" She restated

"I had a goldfish once," Percy said as he looked back outside.

"And?"

"And what? It was a goldfish, it did what goldfishes do and died like the third day I had it."

"That's not true, your father had a goldfish once that lived for 3 years."

Percy tensed at the mention of Poseidon before rolling his eyes and looking back at Hestia, "That's complete crap, the fish probably died and he kept replacing it when you all weren't looking. "

"Poseidon wouldn't do that, he is probably the most honest out of all of my siblings, besides myself."

"Yeah right," Percy muttered, playing with the laces on his shoes.

"Why don't you trust him, so far he hasn't done anything to wrong you, has he?"

"_Trust _him!" Percy shouted standing up from the sofa, "That's a load of _bullshit_, I barely _know him._ And besides I thought you were supposed to be my shrink right now, not my _aunt_. Doesn't that mean you should be an objective third party?"

Hestia took a deep breath, shocked at the vulgar language Percy had used, only to follow up with a very formal sounding sentence. Percy noticed her look of surprise and shrugged, "I watched a lot of Law and Order with my mom."

"Percy," Hestia said reaching to touch his arm in an attempt to calm him down.

"_No,_" Percy yelled as he jerked his arm back and started heading to the front door, "I'm _done_ talking."

With that he stormed toward the door and slammed it behind him. Hestia sighed and looked at the clock. They had been "talking" for almost half an hour. Not as long as she had hoped for, but she knew better than to push him. She got up from her chair and grabbed the cordless phone before peeking out the window to make sure Percy hadn't run off. Dialing her brother's phone number by heart, she looked at the sullen little boy sitting on her front steps.

"What happened?" Was the first thing out of Poseidon's mouth when he answered the phone.

"He and I quote "is done talking" and is sitting on the steps of my front porch."

"Did you get anything useful before he clammed up?" Poseidon asked and Hestia heard noises on his end, before what sounded like a pair of car keys jingling and an engine starting up.

Hestia walked away from the window before Percy could see her spying on him, and rolled her eyes at her brother's question, "Poseidon, if I told you that would defeat the purpose of me being his therapist."

"Just a little something, I'm flying blind here." Poseidon begged.

"He has quite the temper, but I feel like his anger is more to cover his uncertainty, fear, and confusion than anything else. He is very spirited though, reminds me a lot of you actually. And that's another thing, he doesn't trust you."

`"Doesn't trust me? Why the hell not. I barely scolded him after he committed grand-theft auto!"

"I don't think he knows who to trust right now, he is probably just confused. A word of advice though, don't treat him any differently than you would if he had lived with you his whole life. He needs stability now more than anything, and if you go from being lenient on him to laying down the law it will just confuse him even more."

"Okay I'm turning down you street," Poseidon started before he stopped.

"What?" Hestia asked worriedly when Poseidon stopped talking. She pulled back the curtain of her window, no Percy.

**Alright you know the drill, please read and review. Also I would like to add, that if there is something you want to see happen in the story, just tell me in a review and I will try to add it in. :)**


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